While the concept of
artificial life finds its antecedents all the way back to antiquity,
the first application of the term "robot" occurred in a play written by
Karel
Capek entitled R.U.R.
The term is derived from the Czech word "robota," which means
compulsory labor.

Capek published
R.U.R. or Rossum's Universal Robots in 1921. It is the first of his five
plays carrying a utopian theme. The published translation from Czech
into English came out two years later. Its first performance in New
York was at the Garrick Theatre on October 9, 1922. It was the first
production of the fifth season of The Theatre Guild.

The play in the original
occurs in three acts. It takes place at a factory complex on an
island whose national allegiance and location are unspecified. The
human characters of the play are as follows:

Harry Domin--General
Manager of Rossum's Universal Robots

Helena Glory--Visiting
official to the factory who stays on the island and marries
Domin

Dr. Gall--Head of the
Physiological and Experimental Department of R.U.R.

Mr. Fabry--Engineer
General, Technical Controller of R.U.R.

Dr. Hallemeier--Head of
the Institute for Psychological Training of Robots

Mr. Alquist--Architect,
Head of the Works Department of R.U.R., who becomes the last human
being left alive on Earth by the end of the play

Consul Busman--General
Business Manager of R.U.R.

Nana--Handmaid to Helena
Glory

The Robot characters are as
follows:

Sulla--A Robotess

Marius--A Robot

Radius--A Robot who leads
the Robots' revolt on the island

Helena--A Robotess,
modeled after Helena Glory, who develops the capacity for a wide
range of human feeling

Primus--A Robot who also
develops the capacity for a wide range of human feeling

A Servant

First Robot, Second
Robot, Third Robot, etc.

ACT I

The first act takes place in
the Central Office, where Helena Glory first meets Harry Domin. She
is the daughter of President Glory, who is presumably the leader of
the unnamed nation to which the island factory belongs. Apparently
she has arrived as a representative for President Glory and with that
clout wishes for a tour of the factory. Domin accepts her
credentials, but before giving a tour, he first recounts for her the
origins of the factory and its product, the Robots (referred to
within the text with a capital "R").

Domin explains that in 1920,
Rossum, a great physiologist, traveled to a distant island in order
to study the ocean fauna. He attempted to find the chemical synthetic
equivalent of protoplasm. In 1932, he discovered a substance which
functions like living matter but with a different chemical
composition. During the many years to follow, the scientist engaged
in two unsuccessful attempts to create sustainable artificial life.
First, he tried to make a dog which resulted in a malformed creature
that lived for only a few days. For ten years after that, he worked
his way towards constructing an artificial human being, but that
entity lived for a mere three days.

Young Rossum, the scientist's
son, eventually came along to bring an engineer's perspective. He
sought to incorporate efficiency into the process of making an
artificial human being. On a physical level, this entailed a
simplifying the design of the organs. On a metaphysical level, this
entailed excluding the capacity to experience pleasure and engage in
recreation. He viewed such things as "time-wasters" for an artificial
being designed merely for labor. Ultimately, his work lead to the
successful manufacturing of Robots which Domin now oversees.

After Domin finishes the
story, Helena meets two of the Robots and then the rest of the
managerial staff. Through a series of misunderstandings and erroneous
assumptions, Helena unwittingly reveals her true purpose for coming
to the factory. She has come on behalf of an organization called the
Humanity League whose goal is to seek fair and equitable treatment of
the Robots.

However, the managerial staff
is not at all alarmed by her revelation. They explain to her that her
intention to liberate the Robots is entirely futile, since such an
endeavor would entail appealing to human sensibilities that they
claim the Robots simply do not have. Domin waxes on about the
benefits of using the Robots as a source of cheap and efficient
labor, which would free humanity from the drudgery of manual labor
thus allowing individuals to pursue goals of personal improvement.
Only Alquist remains somewhat skeptical, believing that there is
"some kind of virtue in toil and weariness." Towards the end of Act
I, Domin unexpectedly confesses his love for Helena and asks her to
marry him. She implicitly accepts his proposal by acceding to his
kiss.

ACT II

By the second act, ten years
have passed. The scene is Helena's drawing room. Domin is doing his
best to shelter his wife Helena from the problems that have ensued
from using the Robots. But little by little, she discovers that
serious problems are developing not only within the factory itself,
but throughout the rest of the world. Some of the Robots on hand are
acting strangely, almost belligerently at times.

Helena learns from Dr. Gall
that he has been experimenting by developing different Robots that
are "more sensitive than others." Radius the Robot is a product of
this difference. Through other sources, Helena also learns that
worldwide birthrates have dropped to zero, presumably because
extending the human population would be superfluous now that the
Robot population provides the work force. Furthermore, Robots are now
being employed as soldiers as well as laborers. In the resulting
wars, the human fatalities have been extremely high. In her horror,
she burns the only manuscripts that hold the secrets to building the
Robots.

Even Domin and the managerial
staff are not aware of the full extent of humanity's dire
predicament, but by the end of Act II they learn that the Robots
throughout the world have rallied together for the purpose of
annihilating the human race, which has been judged inferior to Robots
and therefore superfluous. The peril becomes immediate when they
realize that the Robots of the factory itself have taken control of
the island and now surround their building.

ACT III

Domin, Helena, and the rest
of the staff are trapped in the building, but they manage to keep the
Robots at bay by electrifying the bordering fence. They brainstorm
for a plan to extricate themselves from the situation. They know that
the Robots will need the Rossum's manuscripts in order to perpetuate
themselves, so they decide to use it as a negotiating piece in
exchange for their lives. However, Helena reveals that she has burned
the manuscripts. In a desperate scramble to find other options, the
electricity gives out. The Robots invade till the only person left
alive is Alquist.

EPILOGUE

The Robots have taken over
the entire world, however, by this point they realize that they do
not know how to make more of their kind. Alquist is an old man now,
kept alive by the Robots in their hope that he will re-discover the
means to construct more Robots. He struggles to find a way, reasoning
that if there are no humans left, there should at least exist "the
shadow of man," meaning the Robots. But he is not a scientist, merely
a builder, and is thus unable to derive the principles that give life
to the Robots.

During the final moments of
the play, Alquist witnesses unprecedented characteristics manifest
themselves within Primus the Robot and Helena the Robotess, which
indicate that they have fallen in love. He sees in them an evolution
beyond the other Robots that brings them closer to being human. He
acknowledges almost in the manner of a blessing their potential role
as a new Adam and Eve for the World.